Partner of slain CHP Officer Kenyon Youngstrom is honored for his own heroic efforts

By Rick Hurd

Contra Costa Times

Posted:
03/19/2013 10:59:56 AM PDT

Updated:
03/20/2013 09:26:10 PM PDT

SACRAMENTO -- A California Highway Patrol officer whose partner was shot to death on Interstate 680 in September has been recognized by the International Association of Chiefs of Police as the nation's top trooper.

CHP Officer Tyler Carlton received the "IACP Trooper of the Year Award" Friday in New Orleans. He was honored for showing "extreme courage" in racing to the aid of his partner, Officer Kenyon Youngstrom, after Youngstrom was shot near Alamo on Sept. 4, CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow said.

Carlton's lifesaving efforts allowed Youngstrom's organs to be preserved long enough to be donated, and four people received lifesaving organ transplants as a result.

"Officer Carlton displayed extreme courage in the face of overwhelming adversity in an attempt to save Officer Youngstrom," Farrow said in a statement. "His selfless actions that day eventually helped save the lives of others."

Carlton, 26, graduated from the CHP academy in 2009 and was transferred to the Contra Costa area office two years later.

"I'm honored to share the story of how" Officer Youngstrom "paid the ultimate sacrifice while protecting the community he loved," Carlton said. "He is a true hero, and I wish I could give this award to him."

Youngstrom, who was 37, pulled his patrol car onto the shoulder of southbound I-680 to remove a dead deer on the shoulder when he was shot in the head by Christopher Boone Lacy, a 36-year-old computer programming loner who was armed with a semi-automatic handgun, two clips and a knife.

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Lacy, who was pulled over by Carlton for having an obstructed license plate, was fatally shot by Carlton after Lacy shot Youngstrom.

Rick Hurd covers public safety. Contact him at 925-945-4780 and follow him at Twitter.com/3rdERH.